Disclaimer: Neither W.I.T.C.H. Nor Sailor Moon nor anything else that might pop up belong to the writer of this story.

Chapter III: Beginnings, Part 3

"All we have is conjecture right now... Summer break is coming up next week..." Cornelia mused aloud.

"You aren't suggesting what I think you are, are you, Corny?" Irma spoke up.

"Yes, I am. Over Summer Break we should go to Japan."

"Dear Will, my friend found this in the same place she found the letter I sent you before... I'm sorry this one took so long, we couldn't afford to send another one first class. - Tomoe Hotaru." Will flipped the paper over to find the picture from the scrapbook Hotaru found taped to the back with another note below it. "Good luck. - SS"

"Mugen Academy. Site of the final battle between the heart-snatchers and the sailor soldiers. Other than the sailor senshi, only two people who were in the building are known to have survived, though it was empty save for them and the belligerents. These two are Tomoe Souichi, former headmaster, and Tomoe Hotaru, his daughter. Recently, Souichi died of a terminal illness. His daughter is currently well and under the care of foster parents..."

Something just made a large impact on the time-line, Setsuna could tell, hence her immediate transporting to the Gates from her place drinking a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper. But, as large as an impact as it made, for the life of her Setsuna couldn't find it. All she could figure out was that, whatever it was, the catalyst was centered around the ruins of Mugen Academy.

'This can't be good.' She knuckled her forehead, and sighed, "I need more coffee."

Story Start, A Thousand Dreams, WITCH's room.

The girls sat around the room in awkward silence, waiting for Will to start speaking. Eventually, she did. "Dad's gone." It was a simple statement that conveyed so many emotions at once it was hard to ferret out any individual one. Shortly thereafter she regained her composure. "I'm not going home without some answers."

All round, her friends nodded, "First off, we need to know who these 'sailor soldiers' and 'heart-snatchers' are." Cornelia spoke.

"I'm more worried about how they leveled an entire campus." Irma spoke.

"Since they seem pretty well-known, I'll ask the innkeeper about it." Taranee spoke.

"We haven't visited the mansion yet either... We should split into two groups, minus Taranee who's staying here to talk with the innkeeper about the sailor soldiers. One group will search for information on the heart snatchers, the other will visit the mansion." She turned to Will, "You don't have to go the mansion today but..."

"I'll go." Will cut her off, "There's no point in wasting any time."

Cornelia nodded, "So... draw straws to decide how the groups split up?"

Before anyone could respond, Will spoke up again, "...I'll go the mansion by myself... Well, Yan-Lin probably has to come with me. You're in a group so you can get away without a chaperone."

"Well... if you're sure." Cornelia allowed. With reluctance on both sides, though Will was putting up a front, the two split off, Will down the route she remembered led to the mansion, and the others to a popular area recommended by Gorou.

Tomoe Mansion, Minato Ward

Hotaru and Chibiusa were exploring the rest of the mansion, looking for more mementos and clues, when Hotaru noticed something through the window. "Chibiusa!" She called out, continuing as her strawberry-blond friend turned, "Will's standing outside the gates!"

"What?" Chibiusa hurried over and looked. Indeed, standing outside the locked iron gates that marked the entrance into the mansion was a red-haired girl matching the one they had seen in the pictures. Her expression couldn't be made out from this distance, but she seemed to be distracted, thinking heavily on something. "Isn't she supposed to be in the US?"

"According to the first letter she sent me… but there's no telling how old that is. Do you think she'll come in?" Hotaru asked worriedly, unprepared for such a confrontation.

"It's locked and we have the spare key. Unless she has a key or is willing to scale the gate we should be fine waiting in here for her to leave…" Chibiusa assured, only for Will to pull something from her pocket and raise it shakily to the gate. "-No way! She has a key!"

"Given how often she seemed to have visited here… It's not too much of a stretch but… now what do we do?" Hotaru asked.

Chibiusa's response was short and immediate, "We hide and try and sneak out !" With that, she pulled her friend into a nearby room and the pair of them slid underneath some curtained furniture

Outside the Tomoe Mansion, Minato Ward

Will was nervous and worried about what she might find in the mansion. It'd been a long time since she'd visited last, and when she visited the school… well, she was glad that the mansion was still here at all, as far as that went, but at the same time she was being overly cautious and indecisive. As she rose the key, hand shaking, to the gate latch, Yan-Lin, who was standing beside her, gave her an encouraging nod.

Nodding to herself in decision, Will unlocked the latch, pushing the gates open with a slow, mournful creak. She crossed the yard, Yan-Lin following behind her, and placed her hand on the front door a few moments before testing the lock to see if she need to use the key on it as well. It was unlocked, and with another breath, Will opened the door.

The interior of the mansion was relatively dusty, but not overly so. It was obvious no one lived here anymore, though. "Tadaima." Will called out, though she wasn't really expecting an answer.

The teen proceeded through the empty house slowly, the aging grandmother following behind her and observing the scenery. All the furniture was all hidden by sheets, the windows all curtained. Will made a bee line for her room, and found it empty. That in itself wasn't really surprising... she had moved away, but she had expected Souichi to keep her things in place. The walls were still painted the same color, though, a solid green to contrast her hair.

Will left her room, going to Hotaru's next. Unlike her own, which may as well have been a spare, Hotaru's room was clearly labeled. Inside, the furniture was uncovered, if it had ever been covered in the first place, and there was no dust. The desk was open, revealing several stacks of homework, some a bit messier than others. The bed was rumpled as well, as if Hotaru has just finished sleeping and forgotten to make it. While thinking back on the other times she had been in the room, playing cards or reading stories with Hotaru, Will made the bed. It was while fixing the sheets that Will noticed a small chest underneath the bed.

The teen slid it out and knelt before it, wiping dust off to reveal a small label that read, 'Will's Stuff.' Opening it up revealed a small music box with a frog emblem on the top, a necklace with a pendent depicting a white wing that looked like it joined with something else, and several letters that she had written to Hotaru, all neatly opened, folded, and placed with care.

"She took such good care of them... How could she forget?" Will whispered.

"You never forget something you choose to." Yan-Lin responded, "It's always an accident. Trying to forget only makes you think of what you're trying to forget. The fact that she took such good care of them means she was trying to remember."

"...So why did she forget?" Will asked.

Yan-Lin's response was vague. "That's up for her to remember. No one else really knows the answer."

Will picked up the music box, and necklacing, pocketing the first and placing the other around her neck. "She's been to this room recently... Maybe next time we'll encounter her. Let's search the rest of the house."

Yan-Lin nodded as the pair left the room, shutting the door behind them after replacing the chest, and starting off down the hallway.

Disused Room, Tomoe Mansion (Hotaru)

Hotaru and Chibiusa remained hidden beneath the furniture. In the distance, they could here the tell-tale sound of footfalls striking the oaken floor as Will explored the house. "Chibiusa-chan," Hotaru called out quietly, "What if Will comes in here and finds us?"

The footfalls grew increasingly loud and close in distance as Chibiusa responded. "We'll just have to keep that from happening. If it looks like she'll find you I'll shift her attention away."

"...Thank you, Chibiusa." The footfalls stopped outside the door before it opened and the footsteps entered the room. From her position, Hotaru could see a pair of feet wearing the green pair of extra slippers that had puzzled Hotaru when she was searching through the house a while back. Now she knew who they were for, other than guests. "Geeze." Hotaru heard a vaguely familiar voice say, "Some caretaker. Other than placing sheets over the furniture and curtaining the windows they haven't done anything."

At this, Hotaru had to stifle a small giggle. 'Setsuna-mama never did like doing chores.'

"Hm?" The voice, which Hotaru assumed belonged to Will, spoke as the feet that Hotaru also assumed belonged to Will shifted position, indicating the girl was turning toward her. "Are there mice in here?" She was bending over... And then a thump indicated that Chibiusa had just made a distraction. Startled, Will turned around, snatching the sheet of the end-table Chibiusa was hiding beneath with a flourish as she did so.

Disused Room, Tomoe Mansion (Will)

"Now who are you?" Will asked, staring at the strawberry-blond girl that had just stumbled from beneath the end-table curiously.

The girl rubbed the back of her head as she stood up, "Ah... I'm Chibi-" The girl stammered, "Chibiko. I was dared to come in here by some friends of mine."

"Oh? So when you saw someone coming in you hid?" Will accused, to which the girl simply nodded.

"Yeah, pretty much." She spoke, smiling widely, eyes closed.

Though Will had no reason to suspect the girl... one would expect her to be a bit more ashamed or embarrassed at being in this position. Something wasn't adding up."Hm... So where are those friends of yours at?"

"Ah... they probably ditched and went home when they saw you."

"Those don't sound like very good friends." Will spoke, while simultaneously thinking, 'I may have been distracted, but I don't remember anyone being at the gates of the mansion or anywhere else where they could have seen me and then gotten away.'

"They have their moments..." The girl spoke.

"Well, I suppose there's no helping it. I'll let you off the hook... Say, has anyone ever told you that your ponytails almost look like rabbit ears?" Will asked, acting on a hunch.

"E-Eh, yeah. All the time." The girl responded, flinching at the mention of her hair's shape.

Will closed in on her, "Is that a friendship locket? I had something similar once..."

The girl jumped, "Y-yeah, it is." She was crossing her arms now.

"So..." Will spoke, "Let's see, it was spelled with what characters again? 'Small' and I think the second one was 'rabbit'... "

"

The girl slumped her shoulders, sighing. "So tell me," Will continued, "Do the words 'Silent' and 'S' mean anything to you when combined, Chibi-chan?"

The girl jumped up in shock, eyes wide. "Y-you, w-wha... h-how?"

"So you do know!" Will said, smiling and placing her fist into her palm. "They were written on the back of the last two letters I got from Hotaru. Are you Silent S, or someone you know, Chibiusa-san?"

The girl's face went through a wide variety of emotions. Eventually she settled on a mixture between fear and indignation. "N-no! No way! Well... I kind of know her but... Just no!"

Will took a few step backs, "You know, that's a pretty weak argument you're making there."

A thump sounded out from behind her and Will turned to it, finding a girl with some familiar hair stumbling out from beneath the end table opposite the one Chibiusa had been hiding in. "Hotaru?" "Hotaru!" Two voices sounded at once, one surprised, and uncertain, the other surprised and annoyed.

"I-ite... Sorry, Chibiusa." She looked up revealing an extremely familiar pair of purple eyes.